Sea Star Legacy

by Carolyn Forrest

  A splash sounded from the tip of the boat, startling her. Looking down into the dark emerald water, Sandra saw a large gray fin appear and disappear. Her heart stopped in mid motion. Suddenly, the air felt stifling. She heard the splash again. As she peered over the front beam, searching the water for the dreaded dorsal fin of a shark, another splash sounded. She scooted back from the edge of the boat, her heart pounding wildly in her chest. As she watched, an agile creature dove back into the spray. It was a dolphin.

  “Luke, look. Isn’t he beautiful? We won’t run over him will we?” she asked in alarmed joyance.

  Luke’s face softened and he laughed. “He’s just catching a ride on our wake. He’s fine.”

  In silent awe, Sandra watched the streamline creature leap out of the spray coming off the boat’s bow and then dive back down into the water. Their playful escort reminded her of a circus star rebounding off a trampoline.

  Feeling Luke’s warm gaze, Sandra remained staring out over the bow after the dolphin left. Her heart was full. Such an alien feeling, she couldn’t remember the last time she’d felt this way. She fought the urge to turn to him, surrender her feelings to him. Did she dare? No. She would be much safer keeping her shields up. Keeping people at arm’s length had become her mantra. She knew if she met his eyes, she’d be helpless, opening herself up to heartache and disappointment.

  His hand lightly caressed the top of hers as he brushed his thumb along her wrist. Warm currents surged up her arm to the back of her neck. He moved his face next to hers. His hot breath tickled her ear.

  “Legend has it, dolphins are a sign of good fortune,” he said in a rough whisper.

  Sandra thought she could hear passion in his voice, feel the molten heat radiating from his body sitting next to hers. Reluctantly, as though in a trance, she gave up all reasoning and relaxed against the warmth of his arm. Looking up into his face, she tilted her chin upward, her attention drawn to the lines of his mouth. Her throat grew dry and she moistened her lips. Was he going to kiss her? Before she had time to ponder her unspoken question, his mouth settled on hers to form a tentative kiss. Skillfully, he invited Sandra to abandon herself to him. As she breathed in his essence of sunshine, soap and sandalwood, she felt all her arguments abandoning her in favor of his touch. Her mind swooned in a hazy dream as though another part of Sandra Harris had taken control of the situation. A person she hardly knew.

  Her hand skimmed along his arm until it rested upon his shoulder. Somewhere in her mind, she felt the boat slow. She knew there was a storm coming. She knew being in his arms meant complications. It all seemed inconsequential. Parting her lips, she welcomed him to explore the soft flesh in her mouth. She relished each electrifying stroke of his tongue. She felt her nipples bead hard with an ache to press closer to his solid body.

  As if knowing her unspoken need, Luke cupped her tightly in his arms, then guided her gently down onto the boat’s trampoline. His tongue continued to mate with hers, stroking, caressing an invisible flame. A warm tingle coursed through her body, threatening to explode into an uncontrollable fire. She couldn’t explain the affect this man had on her. In his arms, nothing else seemed to matter. When he kissed her, all she could think of was how good he tasted. How wonderful the hard contours of his body felt next to hers. She ran her fingertips along his broad shoulders and felt him shudder under her touch. Was it possible that she affected him as profoundly as he did her?

  Without warning, Luke tore his mouth from her and pulled away. “We better get the Show time out of irons and get back to the shore or we’ll never make it back.” High rough passion filled voice stabbed at her dreamy state as she realized the boat had been bounding aimlessly in the waves. He grabbed a main sail line and pulled it in and she felt the boat surge forward.

  What was it about this man that made her blood boil so hot and so fast? And now, he was pushing her away, acting as if this were her fault. “I didn’t realize I was such an inconvenience,” Sandra told him. It wasn’t like her to be sarcastic with people. She either dismissed them totally or gave them a piece of her mind. Nothing had felt normal since she got to Fort Walton. Then it dawned on her, he had hurt her feelings. Normally, she made sure she protected her heart much closer. However, she couldn’t deny his cold attitude had left her feeling like a fool. She caught his gaze and sent him a hurtful look. What gave him the right to be so pompous? She wasn’t the one who kissed him in the first place. Even if she had, you’d thought by his attitude she’d committed a crime.

  “You can inconvenience me any day, Sandra,” Luke told her gently as he stared into her face. “I just don’t want to get caught in the storm coming towards us.” A hard lump formed in his throat. He’d hurt her. He could see it in the deep green depths of her eyes. He’d told her the truth. He hadn’t meant to hurt her. The problem was, in all honesty, he didn’t know which storm he was avoiding. The storm legions pent up in Sandra’s beguiling eyes or a few scattered thunder heads.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  As Luke went about securing the catamaran to the platform, Sandra hung her feet over the boardwalk and waited. Letting out a soft sigh, she watched thin bolts of lightning streak across the sky. Each momentary flash revealed black ominous clouds. It felt good to be back on land, especially with the storm approaching. Back in Oklahoma, Sandra had sailed on her board in all kinds of bad weather, but that was on a lake. The thought of being out in the ocean or even the bay in a storm sent goose bumps crawling up her flesh.

  The breeze had almost disappeared. Everything felt charged with anticipation as though waiting for the storms fury to arrive.

  “Where is the restaurant from here?” she asked as she watched Luke climb off the boat onto the deck.

  “Right over the rise,” he told her, motioning with his head to a mound of white sand. He had said only a scant few words since their kiss on the boat. Was he thinking or pouting? It always unnerved Sandra when people pouted. After living with her mother, however, she should be accustomed to it. Carolyn Daniels could give lessons on the art of pouting, she thought, staring down at her feet. It wasn’t unusual for her mother to pout for a week at a time if it suited her.

  Sandra sensed Luke standing next to her and looked up to see his proffered hand. Anticipating the warmth of his touch, she hesitated before she placed her hand in his. As she pulled herself to her feet, a sense of yearning settled over her. It didn’t seem possible that one man could have such an overwhelming effect over her.

  Searching Luke’s face for a clue to his feelings, her gaze caught and held the soft blue of his eyes. Did he experience the same unexpected upheaval of all his emotions when they were together? Sandra doubted it, accepting the fact that it had been far too long since she had dated someone seriously.

  She watched the corners of Luke’s mouth turn up into a shy grin as he continued to hold her hand. “We’d better get to my house before it starts to pour.”

  Preoccupied, it took Sandra a moment to realize what he had said. “Your house? I thought we were going to get something to eat?” she exclaimed. Suddenly, her throat felt dry. She swallowed hard as she watched Luke’s grin turn into a roguish smile. A twinkle formed in his eyes.

  “You sound as though you’re famished. I assure you, we will eat dinner . . . and perhaps even a bit of desert.” The low seductive lilt in Luke’s voice did little to ease Sandra’s increasing panic.

  “I am starving,” she blurted out the lie, then released a shaky breath. Sandra couldn’t help wondering what Luke Caldwell had in mind. How was she ever going to get through the evening alone with him and in his home? She could have managed a crowded restaurant, but not an intimate dinner for two. She barely survived the sail over without abandoning herself to him. Her cheeks heated as she recalled the kiss they’d shared.

  “I’m the best shellfish cook in these parts,” he told her. Then, not waiting for a reply as if his confession of being good at the culinary arts had settled everything, he placed his hand on her shoulders a
nd steered her up a narrow path cut into the dunes.

  Unable to think of a way out of her predicament, Sandra padded through the sand. She couldn’t believe she’d agreed so easily to dinner. After all, what did she know about Luke Caldwell? She hadn’t even asked him what he did for a living. He could be a mafia hit man for all she knew. If she’d known his plans earlier, she certainly wouldn’t have ever agreed to this outing. He probably guessed that too or else he’d mentioned where they were eating. Not that she had anything against a man cooking for her. It was being alone with this particular man that worried Sandra. She hadn’t acted like herself since Luke rescued her from the bay. Her mother would tell her she’d been out in the Florida sun too long without a hat if she’d known.

  On top of the rise, the path leveled off. Sandra could see a yacht sitting in what looked to be a large flower bed. As they got closer, she noticed that the boat’s keel had been buried in the cement. Where water once would have lapped at the boat’s massive hull, now geraniums grew. Did Luke live here? She’d heard of people living on boats. Never one planted in the ground, however. Sandra hated surprises and this evening was turning into one surprise after another.

  As they reached a sidewalk leading towards the grounded ship, Luke let his hands fall from Sandra’s shoulders. She couldn’t help feeling disappointment at the loss of his touch as she fell in step beside him. They followed the cement path up onto the ship’s wooden plank. At the top of the deck, stood a doorway, Sandra silently watched Luke reach into his pocket and fumble with his keys. Having found the correct key, he started to unlock the dead bolt but stopped short. He met Sandra’s gaze and held it. Something wasn’t right.

  “What’s wrong?” Her whispered words fell off into silence as Luke motioned for her to be quiet. Not flexing a muscle, she stood staring through the door’s pale window curtain, waiting for Luke to do something. Other than a soft light which glowed from the back of the boat, Sandra couldn’t see anything that could be wrong.

  Luke stuffed the keys into his pants pocket and reached for the knob. It was then Sandra noticed the door sat slightly ajar. The handle turned with ease as the door slid open. Someone must have broken in, Sandra thought, feeling a sense of fear overtaking her.

  “Stay here,” he whispered in a tone that left no room for questions.

  Sandra felt her pulse quicken as she listened to Luke’s steps echo off into the darkness of the cabin. What if the burglar was still there? What could she do? She wondered with frustration. She didn’t even have her cell phone on her. Looking around for any means of potential help, it dawned on her that she didn’t even know where she was. She knew they were somewhere on Pensacola Bay, but that only cut it down to her and a population of around fifty-eight thousand.

  The muffled sound of voices filtered towards her. She recognized the deep tones of Luke’s voice mixed with the high soprano of a woman’s. Her heart froze in her chest with a sickening pain. Someone, a woman specifically, had a key to Luke’s home. That didn’t necessarily mean that he was involved with someone, did it? Who was she kidding? Of course, it did. There were no other reasonable excuses to be handing out keys that she could think of. She’d give Luke Caldwell one thing though, he certainly had the nerve. How could he have brought her to his house knowing there was someone else in his life? Whoever, it was, Luke hadn’t expected them to be there, at least not tonight with her there.

  Hearing the approach of footsteps upon the wooden floor, Sandra froze in place and stared through the open doorway into the ship’s shadowed corridor. A dark figure moved towards her. Broad shoulders and a long stride hinted that it must be a man. As the figure stepped into the light, she felt a scream tighten in her throat before she recognized Luke.

  “Come on in. The coast is clear,” he called to Sandra, motioning for her to follow him into the back.

  Sandra raked her hand through her hair, trying to calm down. Relax, she told herself. It is evident there isn’t anything to be alarmed about. This is with the exception of Luke having two house guest at the same time, she thought wryly. Hardly anything to call the police over. Generally, she wasn’t so jumpy, but between the funeral and all the prank phone calls she’d been getting lately, her nerves were frazzled. Well, if he intended to act as though nothing was wrong, she could too, she decided cautiously following his silhouette.

  Glancing to both sides of her, Sandra noticed that shelves lined the room, making an aisle down its center. What odd furnishings, she thought. Abruptly she understood where he’d taken her. She was standing in the show room of a boating supply shop, The Emerald Boat in Pensacola. It all clicked in her mind at once. Luke had to be the owner of the largest marine parts business in the area. The man gesturing for her at the end of the corridor was her chief competitor. No wonder he had taken an interest in her, she thought as she watched the shadows fall along the ribs of the ship. She fought an urge to turn and leave. Gazing behind her, she saw only darkness. Ahead of her, she could see Luke standing next to the light waiting for her to join him.

  “Sandra, I want you to meet someone,” he called over his shoulder.

  Sandra felt herself walking towards him. Her movements were more like a reflex action, a knee jerk or a scream, rather than a conscious decision. Luke owned The Emerald Boat. How could she have been so stupid? She’d seen his initials, L.B., used in news articles. She never once guessed they referred to her tall bronzed sailor. With each step she took, her heart twisted in disbelief. Not only was there another woman in Luke’s life, but he was Sandra’s competition. What a fool she’d made out of herself tonight and she had no one to blame except herself.

  Entering the small office, Sandra met the gaze of a young woman standing behind a desk laden with papers. Her long hair hung down, hiding part of her face. A brief smile clung to her lips as she eyed Sandra suspiciously. The girl reminded Sandra of a sleek Afghan Hound standing guard over the cluttered documents. She didn’t look to be over nineteen years old. Luke liked his girlfriends young and blonde, she thought bitterly.

  “Sandra,” he began with a proud lilt in his voice. “I want you to meet my right-hand man in this case, my right-hand woman. This is Elizabeth Anne Mercer, my office manager.” Luke’s face beamed with pride like a parent introducing an offspring. Could the willowy looking teenager with hazel eyes be related to Luke? Sandra couldn’t see any resemblance between the two and their last names weren’t the same.

  Running her fingers through her bangs, Sandra attempted to manage her stray locks, as well as her stray thoughts. What was wrong with her? Of course the girl worked for Luke, nothing more. Her muscles relaxed and she exhaled, realizing she had been holding her breath.

  “It’s nice to meet you . . . Elizabeth,” Sandra managed to stammer out. She started to offer the young girl her hand, but declined when she noticed her down turned eyes.

  After a moment, the slender youngster lifted her gaze to glance at Sandra. “Thanks. It’s nice to meet you, too.” Her voice sounded gritty and labored as though she were a volcano about to erupt. “Luke’s told me a lot about you.”

  “Oh?” Sandra lifted her eyebrows into a question at Luke. His only reply was that of a scowl directed in Elizabeth’s direction.

  “I’ll be saying goodnight then,” the girl announced to Luke. Raising her chin into the air and shooting him a disapproving glare, she continued. “I didn’t mean to interrupt your evening. Luke neglected to tell me that he was bringing you here.” She paused to look at Sandra as if trying to sum her up. Seeming to have made up her mind, she cleared her throat. “It’s my fault really. I should have guessed where the evening would take you.” Leveling Luke a hard look, she added, “I’ll leave at once.”

  Luke tucked his hands into the side pockets of his pants and shifted his weight from side to side while Elizabeth continued to stare through him.

  “Elizabeth,” Sandra began, trying to break the tension in the room. “You work for Luke?”

  “Elizabeth is wonderful,”
Luke spoke up, answering for the girl. “She knows almost every detail of the company.”

  “It’s a good thing, since you’ve been gallivanting around all afternoon,” Elizabeth stated then curled her mouth into a tight frown.

  Sandra listened as Luke continued to try to defend himself while soothing the girl’s feelings. It was evident, his flattery had not helped matters. At least, he did appear to be taking the situation more in stride now. He’d quit swaying from side to side and had settled his weight on the door jam.

  “I didn’t realize I had anything urgent to do.” Luke’s harsh tone pierced through Sandra’s thoughts. “Elizabeth, what happened that has you so upset?”

  The girl’s face grew pale as she stared absently at her feet, the tension thickening. Each seemed to be waiting for the other to speak. “If you’ll excuse me?” she asked, finally breaking the silence. Without another word being spoken, she bent down below the desk, grabbed her purse and strode towards the door.

  She was being unreasonable. Luke wanted to yell at her to come back, but he had no right to. Besides, his experience had taught him that once a woman was in flight, you rarely made things better by going after her.

  Luke cocked his head to the side and dug his hands deeper into his pockets as he turned his attention to Sandra. “Why do I feel like I’m the employee and I’ve just been chewed out by my boss?” he asked Sandra in a whimsical tone which held no amusement.

  “Yes, I’d say she had a burr under her saddle. Are you sure she’s upset over your taking the time off?” Sandra asked, feeling pretty sure she knew what ailed the girl. After watching the two of them together, she knew Luke wasn’t romantically involved with Elizabeth. However, Sandra would bet a month’s profits that the girl thought of herself as the perfect woman for Luke. It wouldn’t be the first young woman with a crush on an older man.